Kingdom Hearts: The Darkside of Friendship
by Roxas17
Summary: Maleficent is planning something and it's up to Sora and friends to stop her again, but this time there are others, and their role in the events is still unknown. Working title, and Sorry I suck at summaries
1. A New Heart?

Okay, this is my first story, so please go easy on it, and I know it's lame cause it's only 200 something words, but I just wanted to see if anyone would even read something I wrote. i really hope to become a good writer so please please please if you have any comments, advice, concerns let me know, oh and please review.

**Also I do not Kingdom Hearts or any characters from the the game. **

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Kingdom Hearts: The Darkside of Friendship

Prologue- A New Heart?

"Sora! Riku!" Kairi called out, running toward her two best friends who had been sitting near a tree. As the girl approached the two boys turned toward her and she held up a bottle.

"How strange," Sora thought to himself before noticing the seal of King Mickey on the parchment inside the bottle, "It's from the King!" Sora blurted out as he pulled the paper from the bottle and read silently.

The letter from King Mickey read, "Sora, I know that you, Riku and Kairi are just getting settled into your life again, but I must ask you all to help me once again. Maleficent has kidnapped the Princess's of Heart again, but now she is searching for a new final heart. For you see, Kairi is no longer considered a princess; the things that her heart have been through have left it drained of purity and thus useless to Maleficent. But the legend speaks of a replacement or substitute heart, and that is what Maleficent is after. I have left a Gummi ship for you near the keyhole of your world and Cid has already taken care of the navigation Gummi to get you to the new world. Please Sora, you must help her, I can't imagine the fear one must feel being kidnapped, the princess your looking for is...."

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So, that was pretty short wasn't it? Well anyway the next one will be longer I promise, so once again, don't forget to review.


	2. What is that?

Okay, well I got this far into the story and figured this was a good place to end the story for now, without leaving too many loose ends, but hopefully enough to keep you interested in coming back when I finish the next chapter. Also for anyone wondering why Kairi's heart has been drained some of it is because I felt that after everything she went through in the two games there is no way she could still be at the same level as she was in the beginning, but another part is that I really needed a space for a new Princess of Heart, so sorry I don't have a better explanation, but this story is not about her. Anyway, i hope you enjoy this the first official chapter and please remember to review.

**I DO NOT OWN THE KINGDOM HEARTS GAMES OR THE CHARACTERS FROM THE GAMES, but I wish I did.**

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**Kingdom Hearts: The Darkside of Friendship**

**Chapter 1- What is That?**

Somewhere on a far off beach sat a lonely teenager, he starred off over the ocean as the tide slowly lapped at his feet. His medium length brown hair blowing in the wind and into his face, his eyes revealing that a battle was being waged within himself, and as he was lost in though someone came from behind and gave him a slight smack on the back of the head waking him from his own world. "Hey what the hell is wrong with you!" the teenage boy snapped at the person standing behind him.

"Lots of things, but right now I just felt like hitting you," came the reply, as thought it had been said many times before.

"Yeah well its nice to see you too Rachel," the brown haired boy spat out as he began to stand.

"Oh calm down Corey, what are you doing out here anyway?" Rachel responded looking at closely at the boy for the first time today, he was about average height for a boy his age and he wore a pair of dark blue jeans that appeared as though they had been through some rough times and he also wore a black shirt that said Come to the Dark Side we have cookies, that made Rachel laugh a little.

"I was just thinking," Corey replied. The brown hair covering his face being blown about finally allowed him to look at Rachel, she stood there in a pair of blue jeans with a tare in them, a pink shirt with something written on it that Corey couldn't read and a pair of black flats that she normally wore.

"Okay well what were you thinking about?" Rachel inquired looking into his eyes and seeing the swirling clouds of a deep conflict brewing within him.

"Rachel, do you ever wonder what we're doing here?" the brown haired boy asked appearing to not hear the question at all.

"Well what do you mean?" Rachel asked confused.

"Well sometimes when I sit here and think to myself and I just keep thinking about things, I eventually arrive at that question, why are we here? What are we doing? Are we meant for something more..... Rachel look at that!!!!!" Corey replied.

"Huh??? Wha...What is that???" Rachel stuttered.

"I've never seen storm clouds like those and look the water, it's turning purple!" The shocked brown haired boy yelled out in awe. "Rachel we've got to get out of here!!!!" he continued only to turn around and see that his friend was already running down the beach. Corey took a step forward to join her, but found that he was stuck in the spot he was standing, as he looked down at his ankle and saw this strange creature holding on to him. The creature was pure black with yellow eyes, and as it held him it slowly rose from the ground revealing itself to be nearly the teen boys height with two large antenna looking things sticking out of it's head that were angled backwards.

Within moments the creature was at it's full height and little black puddles began forming on the ground as more of these monsters started appearing. Off in the distance Corey thought he heard a loud sonic boom, but he feared that whatever it was, it was probably on the monsters side. As the creatures surrounded him, Corey closed his eyes and prepared for the end, as he was too much of a coward to face death head on, and just as he felt the cold of death creeping upon him the darkness was gone. He could hear sounds of fighting and opened his eyes to see a beautiful girl with semi-long reddish hair in a pink dress with zippers on the top and bottom standing before him.

"Hey are you all right?" she asked, reaching out a hand to help him up.

"Yeah, I think so, but who are you?" Corey responded to the girl.

"She's Kairi," a tall teenage boy with long white hair answered before the girl could, "and I'm Riku, oh and that guy over there who just saved you is Sora," Riku continued pointing down the beach a little to an about average height boy, with really spiky brown hair that seemed to laugh at the concept of gravity.

As Sora finished off the last of the monsters he ran back toward the group of people, "Hey are you okay?" he asked Corey.

"Your too late Sora, we've already been through that and we've done the introductions," the red headed girl corrected him.

"Oh okay, well then you know that I'm," the spiky haired brunette started.

"Your Sora, he's Riku, and she's Kairi, Yeah I know, but what on earth were those things you killed?" Corey interrupted.

"Oh, you mean the Heartless?" Sora asked with a weird look on his face.

"Is that what you call them?" Corey replied.

"Yeah, that's what they are called, their the darkness in the hearts of living beings given shape and form," Riku said cutting off the conversation between the two brunettes, "and there will be more of them soon so we need to get set up for the night"

"Well thanks for saving me guys, uh...... I know your busy, but would you be willing to come with me to see my friends? Cause I know when I tell them this story they are never gonna believe me," Corey asked the trio.

"Sure we can!" Sora blurted out as he jumped nearly six feet in the air out of excitement.

"Sora, we have a job to do, we're not here to hangout with a group of kids," Riku cut in.

"I know that, but he's got a point no one would believe that story," Sora defended, "plus maybe he and his friends could help us with our job, they do know they area better than us."

"He does have a point Riku," Kairi chimed in on Sora's behalf.

"Fine you two want to go, then go, I'm gonna be spending the night in the Gummi ship, hope you guys have fun," Riku muttered as he stormed off.

"Wait Riku...." Kairi started.

"Kai, let him go, you know when he gets like this it's best to just let him cool off," the spiky haired brunette told her, and then turned back to Corey who had been quietly watching, "So where are your friends?"

"Oh follow me," Corey replied waking from his daze, and began walking down the beach with Sora and Kairi in tow, as Riku set himself up for the night in the cockpit of the Gummi ship.

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Well thanks for reading and I hope you liked it, please please please review, tell me what you like, don't like or anything at all. Once again thank you.


	3. Torture?

Okay, I'm glad to see that I at least got some interest in this story, especially since now it all seems to be coming to me very fast. I hope that the story itself isn't moving too fast, or too slow for that matter, but if it is please let me know, along with any questions, comments, concerns, or if there is a huge error you think I should fix please let me know. ^_^

**I DON'T OWN THE KINGDOM HEARTS GAME OR THE CHARACTERS FROM THE GAME.**

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Kingdom Hearts: The Darkside of Friendship

Chapter 2- Torture?

After walking down the beach for somewhere around fifteen minutes the trio arrived at a hole in a cliff face that had been covered with a large plank of wood to give some sign that people lived within it's walls. Corey lifted the plank out of the way and told Sora and Kairi to head inside. As the three teens walked down the narrowing corridor a light could be seen up ahead and the smell of cooking ramen filled the air. Eventually the corridor opened up to reveal a rather large open space that had various items strewn about it, showing obvious signs of being lived in.

As the trio entered the open space four other teens appeared before them, "Guys, this is Sora and Kairi," Corey said as he began the introductions, "Sora, Kairi, this is Manikha," he continued as one of the teens stepped forward. Manikha was an exceptionally skinny girl wearing black jeans with a gray shirt that was partially covered by a black jacket; The girl also wore very heavy black combat boots and had medium length black hair. "Next this is Courtney," the boy continued introducing his friends. Courtney was of an average build for a teenage girl, she wore all black pants, shoes, and a black shirt, along with long black hair that was super curry, so that it seemed to only be a a few inches long. "And this is Thomas," Corey introduced. Thomas was a boy of slightly above average height, who wore black pants as well as a black shirt and shoes, however he also wore a belt buckle that bore a very strange scull and crossbones wearing a hat; the boy had rather short black hair and his face seemed stuck in an almost permanent scowl. "And last but certainly not least this is Rachel," Corey concluded.

As each of their names were called the teens stepped forward to greet their guests with a handshake, when this was done Rachel spoke first, "Corey how did you get out of there? I'm sorry I ran like that, but I was so afraid."

"It's okay Rachel, I was scared too, but this strange black creature called a Heartless grabbed my ankle so I was trapped, but luckily Sora, Kairi, and their friend Riku showed up just in time to save me," the brown haired teen replied genuinely trying to convey understanding.

"Well since they saved you I suppose they could stay here with us for the night," Thomas said, suddenly acting in charge.

"Oh maybe we should just build a monument to the great Thomas while we're at it, or maybe just to your ego," Courtney said in response to Thomas's in command tone of voice.

"Ohhhh.... maybe we could try out some of the new methods of torture I read about in that book I got yesterday," Manikha chimed in.

"You know for once I actually agree with Manikha on this one," Courtney agreed.

"No one is going to be torturing anyone," Corey yelled out trying to end the conflict.

"Well either we torture him," Courtney replied pointing at Thomas, "or we torture you, which is it going to be?"

"All those in favor of torturing Thomas say I, I," Corey blurted out immediately.

"I thought so," Courtney said triumphantly.

"Uhhh guys? Can we ask you for some help?" Sora spoke up hoping to distract everyone.

"Yeah sure, what is it?" Corey questioned, forgetting the events taking place.

"We need to find a princess in this world, she's going to be hunted down by this evil witch for her heart and it's my job to come here and rescue her and bring her back to the King for her own safety," Sora spoke up to make sure everyone heard him, " All we know is that her name is Samantha." As the name escaped the brunettes lips, the group of teens suddenly got silent, and they all hung their heads low, but lowest of all was Thomas. Sora walked over to Corey and whispered, "Did I say something wrong?"

"Well kinda, you see Samantha was Thomas's sister," the solemn teen replied.

"Was?" the spiky haired brunette questioned.

"Yeah, she died about two years ago, don't really know why, she seemed perfectly fine, but it was as if she simply lost the will to live," Corey replied.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know," Sora apologized as his eyes began to water.

"No need," Thomas said, "sure she's dead, but you couldn't have known that, I think I'm gonna go ahead and turn in for the night guys," the black haired boy turned and rested upon an old sleeping bag.

"Yeah maybe that's a good idea, let's all just go ahead and get some sleep we can clear everything up in the morning," Rachel agreed. And so everyone found their usual spots while Corey and Rachel put out two extra places for Sora and Kairi, and with that everyone slept.

As Sora slept, he had a dream, as he usually does, in which he visited Roxas inside of his own mind. While talking to his nobody about the events of the day Sora walked around a replica of Destiny Islands that his mind had created. He had grown used to having to settle for this recreation, but tonight it suited him just fine, but as the time wore on Roxas began to suffer from pains in his chest. The brunette brushed it off and they continued to talk until Roxas finally broke down on the beach and began heaving violently. "Roxas, what's wrong?" Sora asked, worried.

"I don't know, my chest really hurts, it feels like my heart is being ripped from my body," the blond replied gasping for air. The suddenly Sora felt the same pain and he too dropped to his knees and heaved as the pain increased. Soon the pain was overpowering and Sora could see that he was losing consciousness and just as he finally slipped, he called out, "ROXAS!"

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Well once again thanks for reading and please please please review, I know your out there reading this, but I really like to have feed back on things like this so please say something, or ask something, I'll do my best to try to answer any questions, once again thanks for reading.


	4. Nobody?

Yeah!!! I got another chapter done, I'm not really sure how, but I did. Anyway I hope that you enjoy this chapter, and hopefully feel like reviewing afterwards, please.

**I DON'T OWN KINGDOM HEARTS OR THE CHARACTERS**

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Kingdom Hearts: The Darkside of Friendship

Chapter 3- Nobody?

"Hmmm... that was weird, I wonder what the hell just happened," the boy thought to himself. As he slowly began to regain his senses he could feel that he had his armed wrapped around around someone and enjoyed the warmth of their body against his.

Just when he had about fully recovered he felt a horribly stinging pain ring out across his cheek and someone yelled at him, "ROXAS!!! How could you????" The spiky haired blond turned his head and opened his eyes to see Namine standing behind him looking extremely angry. After taking a few moments to think he finally spoke.

"How could I what?"

"How could you sleep with your arms around another woman!!!! Namine yelled at the blond. Responding to this Roxas turned his attention to the location of his arms and found that they were wrapped tightly around a thin girls waist.

"Oh calm down Namine, it's just Manikha, she's a new friend of Sora's," the spiky haired blond replied closing his eyes yet again. However soon the words he'd spoken sunk in and his eyes shot open as he bolted upright. "Namine, I.... I think we're in the real world again," Roxas blurted out, and Namine replied by yelling at the top of her lungs, causing everyone else to wake up.

"Hey who are you people? You weren't here when we went to sleep?" Courtney demanded.

"Wait so you can see us?" Namine asked.

"Of course we can see you," Thomas replied, "Your standing in the middle of our home."

"Roxas?" Sora weakly asked.

"Yeah, Sora?" the spiky haired blond replied.

"How... How is this even possible, how can you be back in the real world?" Sora asked, beyond confused.

"And Namine too," Kairi chimed in, just as shocked to see her counterpart.

"Ummm... do you guys know these people?" Corey asked Sora and Kairi.

"Yeah," the brunette answered, "I don't know how, but this is Roxas, my Nobody," Sora continued standing next to the spiky haired blond in the middle of the room.

"And this is Namine, she is my Nobody," Kairi continued, following Sora's example.

"Nobody?" Rachel asked.

"Yes, when a very strong soul becomes a heartless, the body becomes a Nobody, they are like us in almost every way, except that they have no heart, but they can appear to have emotions because they still remember what it's like to have a heart," Riku said as he stepped into the room.

"Riku, how long have you been there?" Sora asked.

"Just long enough to see what was going on, this is just too weird Sora, we come here looking for a Princess of Heart and suddenly you and Kairi get your Nobodies back," Riku started rambling on.

"Hey! Would you stop talking about us like we're not even here?" Roxas blurted out in frustration.

"The King will have to be told about this and we might have to change our plans now, damn it I can't even go away for one night without everything being thrown off," the white haired teen continued on.

"Hey stop ignoring me!" Roxas yelled as he began running at Riku, summoning Oblivion and Oathkeeper as he swiped at Riku, but Riku side stepped the attack and pushed the blond into the wall. However the blond had accomplished his goal and finally had the white haired teens attention.

"Don't forget Nobody, I beat you once, I can do it again," Riku stated dominantly as he released the blond and continued on his train of thought, "Sora did you manage to find out anything about the mission?"

"Yeah, we found out that the Princess we're looking for is no longer here," Sora stated sorrowfully.

"Well then where is she?" Riku asked not understand what Sora meant.

"She's dead," Thomas cut in, " You were looking for me sister, but I'm afraid you were about two years too late."

"Hmmm... this is strange. Sora we need to go see the King, all of us," the white haired teen said.

"Okay, well then I guess this is good bye guys, it was nice to meet you all and...," the spiky haired brunette started, but was interrupted.

"No, Sora I mean all of us, that includes them too," Riku interrupted, pointing at the five teens standing on the opposite side of the room, "they are involved in this somehow, and the King will know how to find out."

"Wait we can't just leave our world, I mean even if what your saying is true, we can't just up and travel to another world," Thomas spoke up, trying to be the voice of reason.

"And why not?" The white haired boy asked, "You don't have any choice in the matter, but why can't you go, I don't really see much of anything around here worth staying for."

"He does have a point," Courtney agreed, "plus we we're just living day to day here, and none of us are even sure how much longer we could keep that up."

"Good then it's settled your coming with us to the Gummi ship immediately and we'll head to the King's castle," Riku stated as he walked out of the cave. And with that the teens packed up what little belongings they could carry with them and as they headed out of the cave for what seemed like the last time, they promised to stick together, but Thomas had this sinking feeling that things would never be the same again. Getting settled into the Gummi ship the teens met Chip and Dale, but they quickly had to get back to work to finish the preparations for the trip back to the Castle.

And withing fifteen minutes the Gummi ship was off the ground and flying through space, on it's way to the Disney Castle, as the now traveling teens laid their heads down to rest up for the long journey ahead of them.

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Thank you for reading and I hope you liked it, I'm sorry if it doesn't make complete sense just yet, but I couldn't allow myself to write something Kingdom Hearts related without bringing Roxas back, and Namine came back to give to story more of a balance, but I will try to explain all of that in later chapters. Anyway thanks again for reading and please review!


	5. Is that a Duck?

Yeah, I can't believe that there are actually people who like what I'm writing, but I shall continue to write as long as one person is interested. Also for those wondering how Roxas and Namine came back, I can't tell you yet, but I can say that it is explained later, and it is actually there to help the overall plot, but I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. Anyway please enjoy and as always: **I DON'T OWN KINGDOM HEARTS, THE CHARACTERS OR THE DISNEY CASTLE.**

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Kingdom Hearts: The Darkside of Friendship

Chapter 4- Is that a Duck?

"Thomas! Thomas! Wake up!" a beautiful girls voice rang in the teens ear.

"Samantha? Is that you?" Thomas called back, hope evident in every word.

"Yes, Thomas you have to wake up," the angelic voice continued on.

"Sam, I can't believe it's you, where are you, why can I hear you?" Thomas asked with joy.

"Theres no time for that now, but I need you to wake up, she can you use your dreams to lull you into a false sense of security. She doesn't even have try to find you when you sleep, you become a beacon calling out to the rest of the world; I know that it's the only time when you can think about good memories, but you must not sleep!" the voice of Samantha warned.

"But Sam, who's trying to find me?" Thomas asked in confusion.

"There's no time, just wake up, I fear that things are much worse than I'd thought, there is someone else searching too, but he's weak, I don't think he could do much without a real body. Oh never mind, JUST WAKE UP!!!!!" Samantha yelled as loud as she could, finally knocking the boy out of sleep.

Thomas slowly opened his eyes and his he did, he came face to face with a very happy Roxas. Or at least he appeared really happy, for Roxas had a huge ear to ear grin on his face that almost seemed stuck, then Roxas asked, "Hey are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine, I was actually about to ask you that very same question," Thomas replied.

"Huh, what do you mean?" the spiky haired blonde asked in confusion, the smile not fading at all.

"Well whats with the weird smile?" the now seriously confused teen questioned.

"Oh that, sorry I forget about that sometimes, here lets go up to the front and let Sora explain," Roxas replied with just a hint of embarrassment, as he led the way to the cockpit. As the two boys walked through the hall Thomas realized that this ship was much bigger than he'd originally thought, on the outside it looked no bigger than a normal four door car, but inside there were so many hallways and doors that he would swear he'd get lost if Roxas wasn't leading the way

Finally the they made it to the front and their in the pilot seat sat Sora, also with a huge smile on his face, and next to him was Riku who had a slight smirk on his face, which Thomas assumed was probably as close to a smile as he could get, and then there was Kairi and Namine sitting in one corner talking about god only knows what, but once again with big smiles. When he noticed them Sore spoke, "Hey Rox, Thomas, whats going on?"

"Kid wants to know why we're all smiling so much," the spiky haired blonde replied, and then quickly went to go see what the two girls were doing in the corner.

"Oh yeah, well as you know this is our Gummi ship, and like all vehicles it needs fuel," Sora began.

"So what, are you smiling because you found cheap gas?" Thomas asked confused.

"No, the Gummi ship runs on smiles. So to keep it going we have to keep smiling. Now normally a slight smile is enough, but apparently the more people we have on board, the more power it needs, and you and your friends when to sleep the moment we got on the ship, so we all had to pick up the slack to keep going," Sora finished, never letting the smile drop from his face.

"Wow, I'm sorry, I'll go wake everyone else up so we can help you guys out," the black haired teen said as he began walking back to his friends.

"Thanks that would be great, plus we're almost at the King's castle," the spiky haired brunette called out.

"Wow that was fast," Thomas thought to himself as he continued making his way to his friends. About ten minutes later the whole gang of friends came crawling out of the back of the ship with smiles, which was to say the least strange, considering that most of them seemed kind of forced, Courtney's especially made Riku's smirk look like a thousand watt smile.

"Okay guys, buckle yourselves into one of those seats along that wall," Sora stated from the pilots chair as he pointed toward a row of seats along the left wall," and prepare for landing, we'll be arriving at the Disney Castle in a few minutes."

The teens did as they were instructed as Roxas, Namine, and Kairi did the same. The next few minutes were filled with constant chatter between the brunette piloting the craft and the two engineers monitoring the ships vitals and checking the landing gear, but soon enough the Gummi ship touched down and the dome that made up the top of the cockpit opened.

Once everyone had climbed out of the ship Thomas looked back to see that once again the Gummi ship appeared to only be the size of a normal car, yet unable to come up with a logical explanation he simply chalked it up to magic. Finally reaching a decision on how the ship could be so different inside and out, Thomas turned back around to find that everyone else was already half-way across the courtyard, moving toward a huge set of doors, that had the imprint of a mouse on them.

This seemed strange but was soon overshadowed by the doors slowly opening, and on the other side stood a duck, a female duck wearing a very nice looking dress made up of many different shades of purple. As the duck steps forward Sora and Riku get on to one knee and speak in unison, "Lady Daisy, we have come to see the King"

"Please stand, both of you. I thought we'd been over this, the King said you have done enough for us, you don't have act like that anymore," Daisy told the two boys as she helped them up.

"Sorry, I guess it's just an old habit," Sora said as he put his hand behind his head and left it there.

"Yes, well anyway King Mickey is expecting you and your friends in the main hall, please follow me," the female duck stated as she turned and walked down the corridor.

Sora, Kairi, Riku, Namine, and Roxas all began following her, only to realize that the second half of their group wasn't doing the same. "Uh, guys is something wrong?" the spiky haired brunette asked.

"Ummm.... Was that a talking duck, wearing a dress?" Courtney stammered out, accurately capturing the entire groups confusion.

Almost immediately Daisy popped up right in front of the confused girl and pressed a scepter to her shoulder, slowly digging it into her skin as she spoke, "Excuse me, I am Daisy Duck, the Duchess of Disney Castle and a loyal servant of Queen Minnie, I will not have you demean me, by calling me a duck in a dress!!!"

By now Courtney could already feel the scepter about to break skin, so she began to apologize to the duchess, and being the merciful woman that she was, Daisy let her off with a hit to the head and continued leading the way down the hall. Satisfied with what they'd learned, and more than a bit afraid the teens followed her, until they reached another set of large doors, with the image of a mouse on them, Sora and Riku pushed on one door each.

And as the doors opened a massive room was revealed, covered almost entirely with white, except for the occasional red tapestry hanging on the walls, and at the far end, atop a small platform covered in a red carpet sat a mouse with giant ears, that looked exactly the same as the images that had been imprinted on the doors, he wore an outfit that very much resembled that of Sora's. Next to this mouse sat another mouse, this one a female mouse wearing an elegant pink dress and a small crown.

As the group of teens approached the platform Daisy stepped forward and announced, "Your majesty the guests have arrived."

And with this the male mouse rose from his throne and in a very high pitched voice said, "Welcome."

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Yeah!!! Another chapter down, I hope you liked it, or if you don't want to leave me wondering you could always review and tell me what you think, please??? Anyway, once again please inform me if there are any questions, comments, or concerns and hope to see you again next time. ^_^


	6. Dream?

Yeah another chapter I seriously hope you guys like this, cause this is where the story is going to start getting more and more mixed up, just like the real Kingdom Hearts.

Answering questions: Roxas was just watching over the kids in the back of the Gummi ship to make sure they were okay and he saw Thomas having a bad dream, which is why he asked if he was okay. Also the strange Dream of Thomas' is relevant, but I can't quite talk about that yet, but we're getting there.

So with out further ado, Please enjoy.

**I DON'T OWN KINGDOM HEARTS, THE CHARACTERS, OR THE WORLDS.**

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Kingdom Hearts: The Darkside of Friendship

Chapter 5

"Your majesty," Riku called out as he ran forward and gave the miniature king at hug. This was a completely different side to Riku, that the others weren't used to seeing, so many of them turned and looked away, or suddenly became really interested in their own shoes.

"I'm glad to see you too Riku," King Mickey said while giggling, "And you as well Sora, and Kairi," then they kings face took on a more serious look, "however I am troubled by the arrival of so many others in your party."

"Oh, your majesty this is Roxas he's my Nobody," Sora began as he pushed Roxas to the front of the crowd to shake the kings hand.

"And this is Namine, she's my Nobody," Kairi continued on, once again following the brunettes example, by pushing Namine forward.

"And these are my new friends," Sora said beginning the introductions, "this is Corey, Manikha, Thomas, Rachel, and Courtney."

"Oh, well it's really nice to meet you guys, and I don't mean to be rude, but why have you all come here? I don't see the princess," Mickey said trying to keep from seeming like he was being unkind.

"Well you see Mickey," Riku started off, but moved up next to the king and finished his sentence by whispering into his ear.

"Oh I see, well I'm afraid that I too am at a loss, as to how to explain these events. However I know the perfect person to ask," the King stated as he turned toward Daisy, "Daisy would you be so kind as to send word to Master Yen Sid, and tell him that I am in desperate need of his help."

"Yes your majesty, I will go at once," the female duck replied, bowing and then running down the long hall before finally exiting the room.

"Well until Master Yen Sid gets here why don't you kids walk around and explore the grounds, while I talk with Sora, Kairi and Riku," King Mickey suggested to the group of teens, who suddenly felt very out of place.

"Sure if you don't want us here you could just say so," Thomas replied as he began walking out of the hall, with friends in tow.

As the teens exited the room Rachel was the first to speak up, "You know Thomas you didn't have to be so mean to him, he didn't mean anything by it; he just needs to talk to them and we'd only get in the way."

"Well if we're only going to be getting in the way. Maybe we shouldn't have even come here, ahhhh... I need to go outside," Thomas stated in frustration as he took off down a strange corridor, that ended up leading straight to a much smaller, but equally as beautiful garden as the one they had landed in.

As Thomas set foot on the grass something happened it suddenly became night, and his friends were gone now, but there were two people in the garden.

"_Thomas what on earth are you doing hiding in that bush," a beautiful blond haired girl asked a little boy sitting underneath a rather large shaking bush. The girl was no more than eight years old, with the purest sapphire blue eyes the world had ever seen and she wore a beautiful pink dress that was only out shined by the curly locks of blond hair hanging from her head, "he let me help you out of there, there's no reason to be afraid, I won't let anything happen to you."_

_With these words of comfort the little boy reach out his hand and got up from the bush._ _Thomas' heart nearly stopped for there stood a younger version of him, however unlike the Thomas of the present the younger Thomas had medium length blond hair that matched his sisters, and he had the same pure Sapphire eyes as her as well._

_Then the doors leading into the garden swung open and out walked King Mickey, tailed by a male duck wearing strange clothes, carrying a staff and suffering from a severe speech impediment; as well as a strange man who looked kind of like a dog, but he walked upright and he bore a shield with him. But most troubling of all was that as Thomas looked behind them he saw smoke, and the glowing embers of a fire, and just as the doors were shut again he swore he saw a strange black creature with yellow eyes look right at him._

"_Your majesty, we've run out of time, Maleficent has already breached the castle walls, we won't be able to stop her if you delay the counter offensive any longer," the strange duck yelled at the King, but he just kept walking towards the kids in the garden._

_Then he turned to the duck and replied, "Donald I will not have any act of violence commited on these grounds until I can get these children out of here, just hold her off a little bit longer; Goofy?" the king asked turning to the dog man._

"_Yes your majesty?" Goofy replied_

"_Tell Chip and Dale that I need them to land the Gummi Ship in this garden and take these kids somewhere far away from here," the King ordered._

"_Yes Sir, let's go Donald," Goofy replied, grabbing the male ducks hand and leading him to another door as the two disappeared from the garden. The King looked back at the two children playing in the garden and shook his head in defeat, for he truly thought he could keep her away, as long as they were in the castle._

"_Samantha?" the King called out to the blond girl._

"_Oh, yes your majesty?" the sweet girl replied._

"_It's time," Mickey said in a sad voice, "I know I told you that it may never happen, but the time has come that I am no longer able to protect you and your brother, I'm going to get you out of here, but.."_

"_But what?" Samantha asked, worried._

"_For your and Thomas' safety your memories will be erased," the King replied, a tear streaming down his face._

"_NO, why would you do that? Don't you want us to remember you?" Samantha practically screamed out in protest._

"_Of course I do, but you both will be safer if you have no memory of me or this castle," the King insisted as yet more tears flowed down his face, but he was interrupted by the arrival of the transport for the kids. "Now you and Thomas get into the Gummi ship and Chip and Dale will drop you off somewhere safe, you'll be asleep when they leave you and when you awaken you won't remember any of this."_

_Despite what she wanted, Samantha knew deep down, that what Mickey said was true, and even if it wasn't she'd come to trust his judgment, and so she loaded Thomas into the Gummi ship before climbing in herself. Just as she sat down the doors to the garden swung open and there stood this huge black dragon, as the beast opened it's mouth green fire poured forth and engulfed most of the garden in flames, "Chip, Dale, go now!" the King ordered as he turned to face the beast._

_Following their orders the two engineers fired up the engines, as Samantha cried watching King Mickey run at the beast and then become lost in the smoke, for as the ship rose higher, she could see that huge sections of the castle were on fire, Samantha couldn't handle such destruction of beauty and she fainted._

"THOMAS!" a far off voice yelled out.

"Samantha?" Thomas asked, once again hoping to speak to his sister.

"No THOMAS get up! We've got problems!" the voice yelled once again, but this time closer.

"Problems? What problems?" the black haired boy asked, confused.

"THOMAS wake up, the castle is under attack!" The voice yelled out yet again, this time right in his ear. This made Thomas' eyes snap open and he saw Courtney standing next to him, he was on what felt like a bed.

"What happened?" the teen asked his friend.

"Well long story short, you got mad, ran outside, fainted, we put you in this room and now theres a bunch of weird black things coming out of puddles in the ground," Courtney replied with a slight hint of sarcasm in her voice.

Thomas quickly looked around the room, but saw no one else, "Wait where are the others?" he asked, worry seeping into his voice.

"Well Manikha and Rachel are with the King, Minnie, Daisy, Kairi and Namine trying to figure out a way to stop all of this, Sora, Riku and Roxas are running all over the place taking out as many of the heartless as they can, nobody knows where the hell Corey went. He was in charge of watching you, and I was sent here to get the two of you and bring you to the great hall, but when I got here the door was locked from the inside so I had to ram it down with my shoulder and I found you on the bed mumbling something about a fire, but no sign of Corey. Anyway I need to get you to the great hall, so lets go.

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Well I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it, anyway, please please please review???? Also if you have any questions, comments, concerns, feel free to tell and I'll try to answer they to the best of my ability, Once again thanks for reading and hope to see you again ^_^


	7. An Important Mission?

Yeah I finally finished another chapter, to anyone and everyone who has awaited this I'm sorry it took so long. Also I'd like to apologize to all those who felt that Thomas would never be that rude but it was needed to get him out into the garden to progress the story line, and If anyone would like to venture guesses as to where Corey has gone I'd be really interested in seeing what you think ^^

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN KINGDOM HEARTS THE CHARACTERS OR THE WORLDS.**

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Kingdom Hearts: The Darkside of Friendship

Chapter 6- An Important Mission?

The two friends moved down the winding corridors as fast as they could, trying to avoid any contact with the Heartless that were roaming the castle. Soon they arrived at the hallway with the door to the Great Hall, but as they took off running towards the door, a group of Heartless dropped down from the ceiling and began marching towards them. Then the nearest Heartless reached out towards Thomas and began to slowly dig it's fingers into his chest, just as Roxas appeared behind it and wiped it out. "Quick get out of here!" the spiky haired blond yelled as he turned his attention to the remaining Heartless.

Not needing to be told twice the two teens continued on and made their way through the two massive doors leading to the Great Hall. Despite it being night, the room was still as bright as ever, but now instead of the thrones sitting on top of the platform was a giant table with a scale replica of Disney Castle. As Thomas got closer he could see that it was a planning table, that was changing in real time to show the current conditions of the battle taking place on the grounds. Looking around the table the black haired teen could see that Roxas was still outside in the hall, while Sora was off in the east wing, with Riku in the west. Coming back to where he was Thomas realized that everyone in the room were also on the map, but he was suddenly drawn out of his own thoughts when he realized that King Mickey was talking.

"Rachel! How's the west wing holding up?" the King asked turning to the girl.

"Well the Heartless are all converging on Riku, I don't know how much longer he can hold on by himself," Rachel replied to the King, worry evident in her voice.

"Don't worry Rachel, Riku knows he's never alone, I'm always right there with him, ha ha," the King replied placing his hand over his heart. Suddenly Riku took down huge numbers of heartless as if he'd just gotten his second wind.

"Your Majesty!" Manikha suddenly blurted out breaking the King's concentration, "Sora's in trouble."

"WHAT!" Mickey yelled as he ran over to see the battle the young girl was watching, "No he's too badly out numbered," the King closed his eyes and focused with his hand over his heart, "Roxas!"

The blond could hear Mickey inside his head, "Your Majesty? Is that you?"

"Yes Roxas, it's me," the King replied.

"But how can you be in my head?" the spiky haired blond inquired.

"Look Roxas theres no time to explain, Sora's in trouble in the east wing, and your the only one who can get there in time to save him," Mickey replied with urgency.

"What, I'm on my way!" the now focused teen yelled out as he wiped out ten heartless with a single slash of his keyblade and took off toward the east wing.

With that the King let out a sigh of relief, for the time being everything seemed to be okay. Suddenly the doors the Great Hall opened and heartless began pouring in from the other side, it then dawned on the King that Roxas had been the only thing keeping the Heartless from getting inside, but now they needed a new plan. "Minnie," Mickey said in a stern voice, "Go to side of this platform and pull the lever, then I want you to take everyone with you and stay in the hall of the cornerstone until this is over."

"But Mickey, I wont leave you here to face this alone," the Queen responded by running up and grabbing King Mickey's hand.

"Minnie, please just do it," the King asked, the sound of suppressed tears evident in his voice.

Not saying a word, Queen Minnie quickly ran to the side of the platform and pulled the lever causing the entire platform to start rolling back, revealing a long staircase that seemed to have no end. However as Minnie looked down stairs her face went pale, as if she'd seen a ghost and soon everyone knew why, as more Heartless began traveling up the stairs to surround the group.

"Mickey!" the Queen yelled out as she ran to the King and held on to him as though it were their last moments together.

While at the same time the four friends had huddled together, telling each other their goodbyes and overall feeling that the situation was unfair. Just then a loud cracking sound was heard by all as the Heartless began to disappear in large groups in bright flashes of light.

Through the now cleared door way a tall older gentleman with a very serious look appeared. He walked into the Great Hall only briefly looking to King Mickey then continued on down the flight of stairs revealed under the platform, all the while summoning bolts of lighting to vanquish any Heartless foolish enough to challenge him.

Soon though the noises stopped and the ground suddenly began to shake and the Great Hall was lit up by a bright light coming from the staircase the man had gone down, the light slowly grew brighter and brighter until everyone was blinded by the brightness. After what seemed like hours the light began to fade and everything returned to normal, then the strange man surfaced from the stairs and with the wave of his hand the platform moved back into place. "The Cornerstone has been fortified," the strange man stated, "this should prevent another such attack from taking place your Majesty."

"Thank you Master Yen Sid, I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't shown up when you did," Mickey replied looking up to this man with great admiration.

"I'm sure you would have done just fine, but I had already been watching for sometime and decided that I could not allow anymore of my time to be wasted," the tall wizard explained.

"Yes Master, then I wont take up too much more of your time," the King continued on ignoring the statement about Yen Sid having watched the battle, " the reason I've asked you here is these children," the King stated gesturing toward the group of friends still hanging on to each other for dear life.

"Ah yes, I read that in your letter, but you mentioned five children in the letter, here I see only four," Master Yen Sid pointed out as he eyed the group carefully.

"Well I'm not entirely sure what happened to the fifth one, I sent Courtney out to retrieve two and she returned with one," the king stated as he turned to the teen girl, "Courtney, what happened to Corey?"

"I have no idea, when I got there the room was locked, and after bashing the door down all I found was Thomas on the bed rambling about a fire," the girl replied.

"Hmmm... Well I have already scanned the castle and I do not believe that your friend is here anymore, this of course is most troubling, for his disappearance coincides with the attack on the castle we must assume the worst," the old wizard said looking at the girl.

"And just what exactly is the worst?" Thomas spoke up for the first time.

"That you friend was either taken by the Heartless or was consumed by them," Yen Sid stated quite matter-of-factly.

"What! That's not possible, then why wasn't I taken? Considering the fact that I was asleep on a bed completely defenseless, I would have been an easy target," Thomas shot back, a hint of anger in his voice as one of his friends disappearance was brushed off so casually.

"Perhaps the girl got there just in time to save you and scared the Heartless away, but the truth of the matter is that he's not here and a more important mission awaits you," the wizard replied showing no compassion for what was obviously a major issue for the teen boy.

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Yay, you've made it all the way through, I hope you liked it and ask that you please leave a review so I know what you do or don't like, also don't forget I'd like to know what you think might have happened with Corey. Well I'm off to brain storm the next chapter and hope to have it up soon, see you next time.


	8. Dormant Powers?

Authors Note:

Sorry this chapter took so long, especially considering how short it turned out, but It was needed to set everything up for future chapters so bear with me.

Well I know you've waited long enough so here is the chapter, and I'll handle responding to reviews at the bottom.

**_DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN KINGDOM HEARTS OR THE CHARACTERS OF THE GAME, SIMPLY THIS STORY AND MY OC'S_**

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Kingdom Hearts: The Darkside of Friendship

Chapter 7- Dormant Powers?

"Mission, what mission are you talking about master? I hadn't planned anything," King Mickey blurted out as he came closer to his old teacher.

"Your majesty this attack on the castle was no coincidence, that witch planned this, we have known for some time that she was searching for the princess, and she must have thought you'd bring her here thus she attacked," the elderly wizard explained.

"I see, but master Yen Sid we can't send these kids out there, they don't even have any weapons to protect themselves," Mickey replied, worry evident in his voice.

"Ahhh... yes well then I'll just have to solve that," the wise wizard walked towards Courtney, and placed his hand atop her head, "I awaken the power within you." A burst of light erupted forth and blinded the room for mere seconds but upon regaining her senses Courtney realized she had a keyblade in her hand.

"You child have the power of Terra the guardian, thus his keyblade rested within you, you are ferociously determined and would easily fight to the death for a comrade," the aged man stated as he removed his and and next stepped in front of Rachel, yet again placing his hand atop her head, "I awaken the power within you." Yet again the room lit up with bright light, only to diminish revealing that Rachel too was carrying a keyblade.

"Hmmm... you have the power of Aqua the guardian, her keyblade and power rested within you, you are defensive of those you care for, and would sacrifice anything necessary, yet you also maintain the ability to be a great healer," Yen Sid said as he next stepped in front of Manikha and place his hand upon her head and awoke her powers.

"You have the power of Ventus the guardian, while your plans may not always be thought out or even existent you do what you do because your heart is in the right place," the old wizard said as he finally arrived in front of Thomas. And as he'd done three times before he placed his hand upon his head and awoke his powers, but this time when the light faded Thomas was left holding nothing.

"Hmmm... strange I sense that a power has been awakened, yet you have not been given a weapon, well then I suppose it is up to you three women to fight and from time to time protect your friend," Master Yen Sid stated as he walked back down the line of teens.

As the wizard walked away Thomas began to sense his anger growing, why was he the only one without a weapon, why was he the weak one, he wanted to help too, just then Sora, Roxas, and Riku came barging through the doors of the great hall asking what had happened to the heartless. As King Mickey went about explaining what had happened Thomas took deep breaths trying to calm himself, he had to stay cool because whatever was going on was bigger than him.

Then Thomas heard his name being called and came back to reality to see that everyone had gathered around Master Yen Sid, not wanting to miss anything he quickly ran over to see what was going on.

"Okay, so our intelligence gathering hasn't been able to turn up anything on Maleficent's whereabouts, but we do know that her former base of operations is located in Radiant Garden, so that is probably the best place to start," the old wizard stated to the group of people, "Now I'll send word to Merlin to expect you, perhaps the residence of Radiant Garden can be of some help to us. You should leave immediately."

"Yes Master Yen Sid we will leave at once," Sora responded then turned to Kairi, "Kairi I want you to stay here, and Namine too."

"What? Sora what are you talking about, we're supposed to be a team?" the redhead asked, obviously hurt.

"Kairi, don't get mad, It's just that.... I can't lose you again, okay?" Sora responded, a strong mix of emotions coming through his voice, and with that Sora turned and walked away.

"Sora wait....," Kairi started, but felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Kai, you know Sora cares about you he just can't handle it if something happens to you again," Riku interrupted, taking his hand off her shoulder. The white haired boy then called the other teens and gestured toward the door out of the Great Hall.

The group of teens headed out and ran into Sora out by the Gummi Ship, he and Roxas were busy with pre-flight set up and so the teens just crawled into the cockpit of the Gummi ship and waited, yet as the time seemed to drag on Thomas became more and more tired, and he made his way to the back of the ship determined to set his head down for just a few moments only to fall into a deep sleep the moment his head hit the pillow.

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Yay, well there it is I hope you liked it even though its really short. Please tell me what you think by reviewing, and if you have any questions please ask, I enjoy being the knowledgeable one for once in my life^^

Well hope to see you all again soon^^

Anyway, most of this authors note goes out to Trentu:

I'm glad you've finally got around to reading and enjoying the rest of the chapters. Ummm lets see.... yes the kids in the group are really Thomas's friends, though they may not always act like it. I'm afraid Riku has to stay in the story, but he's not a major character. Now as for what happened to Thomas' sister all that has been revealed thus far is that she died, as if t was no longer in her heart to keep living. Mickey doesn't have a darkside, he's always done his best to protect people, and as for why the castle was attacked, well that one you'll have to figure out on your own. Now all of your questions about the last chapter I can't answer, because they come up in later chapters. However yes I do know Darkneslayer0, and am aware we used the same characters, but I thank you for saying mine we're better, it made me laugh^^


	9. Where's Manikha?

Well I'm glad I was able to make up for how short the last chapter was with this one, it's actually over a 1000 words longer than my previous longest chapter^^ A few things to say, first off darknessslayer0 don't be so mean to my reviewers. Also anything and everything that happens to Thomas is important to the story line regardless of how people feel about it, so please just bear with me. Anyway, enough of my talking I hope you enjoy this new chapter, and my first attempt at a Point of view change.^^

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN KINGDOM HEARTS OR IT'S CHARACTERS. I DO HOWEVER OWN THIS STORY AND MY OC'S.**

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Kingdom Hearts: The Darkside of Friendship

Chapter 8- Where's Manikha?

"_Thomas get up!" a melodious voice yelled out to the boy._

"_What?" Thomas responded, opening his eyes to see that he was on the ground. Looking around the teen realized he was on a beach, he felt the warm sand under his hands, and could smell the sea air, as he continued to inspect his surroundings he noticed that there was no one in front of him, and a jungle to his right, with the sea to his left. Suddenly someone grabbed his hand and yanked him to his feet, it was his sister Samantha. "Sam, what's going on?" Thomas asked as his sister pulled him forward and took off down the beach._

"_I'm not sure Thomas, something attacked the gummi ship causing us to crash land on this beach, and Chip and Dale were unconscious after the crash, but whatever attacked the ship is still after us so we have to keep moving," the young blond girl replied, not slowing down. Suddenly Thomas could hear the sound of fire crackling, and he could smell the burning wreckage of their once airborne ship, then he heard a loud thumping as if a huge beast we're heading towards them._

_Suddenly a huge explosion threw the two kids forward a few feet and face first into the sand of the beach they had been running on. As Thomas pulled his face from the rough hot sand, he looked up to see a colossal black dragon spewing green fire coming right at him and his sister. The young boy was soon overcome with fear, he began to wonder what his sister would do, but looking over at Samantha she too was paralyzed with fear. As the dragon got closer he felt that all hope was lost so he closed his eyes and from the very depths of his heart called out for help._

"_Thomas! Samantha! Run, I'll hold her off!" an extremely familiar voice called out. Thomas opened his eyes to see King Mickey, keyblade in hand, running at the giant dragon._

"_Come on Thomas we've got to go!" Samantha yelled out once again grabbing Thomas' hand and taking off down the beach. As the two were running Thomas couldn't bring himself to turn his back to the King, until his sister suddenly stopped, making the young boy look forward to find out why. At which point Thomas noticed a strange dark vortex before them._

_As the two stood there wondering what the vortex could possibly be, a tall cloaked person stepped out of the vortex and appeared to analyze the pair. After a few moments the figure spoke, "Come with me, and I can give you safety."_

"_What?!" Samantha questioned, a slight bit of fear noticeable in her voice._

"_I can give you safety, I can make all of this go away, I can make you all forget, but for a price," the figure spoke in a calm emotionless tone, while making very dramatic motions with his arms to accentuate his words._

"_Price... what price?" the blond haired girl asked trying to get a better sense of the true intentions of the figure._

"_That is of no importance right now, I will collect when the time comes, but you must agree to make the payment when the time comes. Only then can I make this all go away. However I wouldn't take too long to think, it appears that your king may be losing," the figure explained, still dramatically moving his hands, and adding a slight emotionless chuckle to the end of his sentence._

_With these words Samantha turned to see King Mickey being thrown around by the dragon, and with the threat to Mickey so real Samantha turned around quickly, "Fine I agree to your terms, just stop all of this!" the girl frantically yelled._

_And with that the figure raised it's hand and snapped it's fingers, "Done, now come with me. Your King will live, but he will have forgotten you, as will the witch who purses you, but you will never the less go to a remote location for your own safety."_

_Samantha took a step forward, pulling Thomas with her, then turned to see that King Mickey and the dragon had been frozen in time, with the dragons large claws just inches away from the King. Feeling confident that she had done what needed to be done, Samantha slowly pulled Thomas into the vortex followed by the cloaked figure._

Thomas suddenly awoke and found himself alone in the back of the Gummi Ship. The teen sat up and held his head in his hands and tried to straighten out his thoughts. What's with all the dreams he'd been having, why do they all seem so real, and yet he has no memory of any of them, and what role does Samantha play in all this.

"Thomas? Hey Thomas are you up yet?" Courtney called out as she came down the hall finally entering the room and finding Thomas sitting on a bed thinking, "Hey ummm... I don't mean to interrupt, but we're getting out now."

"What?! We're already at Radiant Garden?" Thomas asked in surprise.

"Uhhh... yeah, you've been back here for hours. We found you asleep and decided to just leave you alone," the black haired teen replied, "Now as I said we're getting out so hurry up," and with that she turned and left.

"Damn I can't believe I slept that long, anyway I guess I'll have to figure this out later," the boy said to himself as he stood up and walked to the front to get out and join the others.

As he stepped out from the ship he found everyone gathered together surrounded by heartless, Thomas immediately felt fear as his friends were in danger. However those feelings were soon replaced with anger as Sora spoke, "Okay now you guys should probably try out your keyblades so go ahead and take out these heartless."

One by one the three girls attacked, Courtney ran up to the heartless before her and gave it a horizontal slash across it's face, which disappeared in a puff of black smoke as a bright glimmering heart floated into the air. Rachel next ran forward and gave her heartless a quick combination of slashes that formed a star, once again resulting in a black fog and another floating heart. Finally is was Manikha's turn and as she ran forward she found the keyblade to be heavier than she expected as she tried and failed to pull of a good slash, but fortunately she connected with enough force to still take down the enemy. As the final heartless vanished Thomas moved and joined the group as he felt his anger beginning to dissipate.

"Well I think overall that was pretty good for a first try," Sora commented, "Now that we got that over with we'd probably better get going."

"Get going where.... Sora?" a familiar voice questioned.

"Huh...," the brunette let out as he turned toward the voice, "Leon! How's it going?"

"Fine, but I didn't think we'd be seeing you for a long time, and from the looks of it your group has grown a bit," Leon said matter of factly as he eyed the group.

"Oh yeah, these are my new friends, Rachel, Courtney, Manik...," Sora started before being interrupted.

"Hey how about we save the introductions until we get to Merlin's? You know, to save on time," the brown haired man suggested.

"Oh... Sure lets go," the brunette keyblade bearer replied.

The group of teens followed Leon through a rather packed square, during which time Thomas went back to thinking. "I still can't figure out what all this stuff is supposed to mean and it bothe...," Thomas thought to himself as he felt something hit him in the back. He looked back to see Manikha picking up a large book from the ground and handing it to somebody wearing a black cloak. The cloaked figure seemed familiar, but with his thoughts so jumbled he could quite place it, thinking nothing of it, and knowing her usual clumsiness, Thomas turned back around and continued to follow the group.

They finally reached a very strange looking house which they entered and were met with a group of people and thus the introductions began. "Okay well guys," Sora started addressing the teens, "This is Leon, Yuffie, Aerith, Cid, and of course Merlin," now addressing the other group, "And this is Roxas, Riku, Courtney, Thomas, Rachel, and..... hey where's Manikha?"

"She was right behind us as we walked through the market right?" Rachel asked, a hint of concern in her voice.

"Yeah I saw her behind me, she hit me in the back so I turned around and saw her pick up a book and hand it to somebody in a black cloak. I guess she knocked it out of his hand," Thomas spoke up. The teen looked toward Sora, Roxas, and Riku and saw a look of mixed fear and confusion, "Hey guys, what's wrong, you look like you've just seen a ghost?"

Roxas was the first to reply, "Thomas, what did this person look like?"

"I don't actually know he had a hood on with his cloak, why do you ask?" the dark haired teen questioned.

"Well then what did the cloak look like?" Roxas continued, ignoring Thomas' question.

"Hmmm... well it was all black, except for a long zipper down the middle, oh and it had these two little things hanging off the end of chains around the neck," Thomas recalled, as the look of fear and confusion grew with each detail.

"Was this person carrying anything?" Roxas asked, maintaining his composure better than the others.

"Well besides the big black book Manikha handed him no," the teen replied.

"Zexion," was all Roxas said as he took off running out the door, with everyone else running after him.

"How can Zexion be back Roxas, I thought all of Organization XIII was gone?" Sora asked as he chased his nobody.

"They are Sora, in fact Zexion was defeated while I was still in the Organization, so there's no way he can be alive, but the person Thomas described fits Zexion perfectly," the blond replied as he stopped in the square and looked around.

Suddenly the nobody turned toward a wooden gate at the end of the square, "Hey did you guys hear that?"

"Hear what Roxas?" the brunette inquired.

"That scream, it.... it sounds like Manikha, but why can't you hear it..... oh no!" Roxas said as he took off toward the gate.

"Roxas what is?" Sora asked.

"Zexion is a master of illusion, his attacks are based on illusion, but his illusions don't work on other Organization members which means that if you can't hear it and I can, he's using an illusion on Manikha," the nobody replied as he finally reached the gate and opened it. As the gate opened the group of people saw a cloaked figure standing next to a giant medieval contraption; Manikha was lock into the restraints and screaming to be saved.

"Zexion! Let her go!" Roxas yelled out stepping forward. Wondering what was happening Thomas worked his way to the front of the group and saw Manikha restrained.

Without saying a word the cloaked figure raised his hand and snapped his fingers. The blade from the guillotine was released and Manikha let out a loud shriek as the blade came down. The entire groups eyes grew wide as the blade easily sliced through the young girls neck; Manikha's head then rolled toward the crowd watching in horror. Her face was stuck with her eyes open and her mouth agape, as if she were still screaming, and blood was pumping out where her head used to be and as a pool formed the figure held its hand up behind himself and a vortex opened.

Thomas immediately remembered where he'd seen that cloak and now the vortex, it was the same as in his dream, then the figure bowed to the crowd and back into the vortex, disappearing from sight as the vortex closed.

The three friends dropped to their knees and began to cry uncontrollably at the site of their now decapitated friend. Aerith ran to the teens and ushered them back out the gate and away from the sight, as he stepped back into the square Thomas felt light headed and suddenly collapsed.

*******************Zexion's POV**************************

While walking through the town square toward Merlin's house Manikha bumped into a man and knocked a book out of his hand, she bent down quickly and picked up the book.

"I'm very sorry sir, I wasn't watching where I was going," Manikha apologized as she handed the book to the man.

"Ha ha ha.... It's quite alright, your not the first person to not pay attention," the man replied in a cold yet intelligent manner.

Looking at the book she had just returned the girl suddenly realized that it was a book on torture throughout history. "Oh... I love to study torture as well," the girl said smiling.

"Really? I had no idea there was someone else who shared my interest. Well as it happens I'm in charge of preserving the history of Radiant Garden and part of that includes an old guillotine located just off the town square, would you like to see it?" The man replied, maintaining his emotionless tone.

"Wow really? I'd love to, I've always wanted to see one up close, by the way I'm Manikha, oh but I have to get back to my friends " the girl responded quite enthusiastically.

"Great follow me Manikha, I promise it won't take long plus I'm in a bit of a rush so lets move quickly," the man stated as he led the way through the crowd.

Soon the two reached the guillotine, the massive device stood no less than twenty feet tall and despite the overall gloom of the device the blade shown with an amazing brilliance in the sunlight. Manikha walked around the guillotine inspecting the supports, the restraints and all every little detail she could.

"Wow this is amazing, I wonder what it must have been like to be in one of these," the teen girl commented.

"Well would you like to find out? You can live most of the experience of course we can't recreate the danger the real victims were in, but this is pretty close," the cloaked man offered.

"I'd love to! Can I?!" Manikha replied excitedly.

"Of course just come right over here, and I'll open up the lock," the man said as he pulled out a set of keys and unlocked the restraints. Manikha put her head and both hands into the restraints and the man then closed the restraints and locked them again.

"Wow this is amazingly tight, I can only imagine how much it would hurt to struggle of your life was about to end, well you can go ahead and let me out now," the teen girl commented.

"I'm sorry Manikha, but I can't do that," the man replied.

"What?! What do you mean you can't do that? Let me out of this thing!" Manikha replied to the mans statement.

"You are too important of a pawn in this game to let you leave here alive," the man stated just as emotionless as ever. With that Manikha began to scream as loud as she could. Moments later the gate swung open revealing Roxas and the rest of the group standing there.

"Zexion! Let her go!" Roxas yelled out stepping forward. Wondering what was happening Thomas worked his way to the front of the group and saw Manikha restrained.

Without saying a word the cloaked figure raised his hand and snapped his fingers. The blade from the guillotine was released and Manikha let out a loud shriek as the blade came down. The entire groups eyes grew wide as the blade easily sliced through the young girls neck; Manikha's head then rolled toward the crowd watching in horror. Her face was stuck with her eyes open and her mouth agape, as if she were still screaming, and blood was pumping out where her head used to be and as a pool formed the figure held its hand up behind himself and a vortex opened.

Thomas immediately remembered where he'd seen that cloak and now the vortex, it was the same as in his dream, then the figure bowed to the crowd and back into the vortex, disappearing from sight as the vortex closed.

The three friends dropped to their knees and began to cry uncontrollably at the site of their now decapitated friend. Aerith ran to the teens and ushered them back out the gate and away from the sight, as he stepped back into the square Thomas felt light headed and suddenly collapsed.

* * *

Yeah... I hope you guys liked the chapter, and if you did, please tell me with a nice review, or if you didn't tell me that too. Also I'm still trying to improve so if there's anything you feel I could improve or have any helpful hints I'd be happy to hear them. Anyway thanks again for reading, and I hope to see you again when I get the next chapter up.


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